Google helps Faroe Islanders spin their Sheep View yarn

Back in July, a group of Faroe Islanders launched their own version of Street View, cheekily called “Sheep View 360,” by outfitting sheep on the island with 360-degree camera and using that to fuel its own mapping project. The Faroe Island crew was acting alone, in an effort to shore up its absence of Google street-level coverage using the independent Danish territory’s most populous inhabitant. But now Google is giving the project its official seal of approval, along with substantial support.

In this case, the Faroe Island team is better off as part of Google’s flock than going it alone – Google is supplying the project with a Street View Trekker, as well as 360 degree cameras on loan from its official Street View program. The Trekker is a 360-degree capture rig similar to the ones found on Google Street View mapping cars, but designed for use on a backpack or via other means used where cars dare not tread.

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The arrangement goes beyond sheep – Google says it’s equipped residents and tourists with cameras so they can help out, even while doing things like pushing wheelbarrows.

Still, if I were to interpret the haunting bleats of the sheep of Faroe Islands, I’d imagine they’d be saying something like “remember where the real Sheep View started.”